An outfit called QTC has a compiler which compiles C to microcode. It
is part of a tool suite which includes a simulator. The idea is that
you can alter the hardware design, have the compiler re-generate your
microcode, and you can then test the new design on a simulator. This
means that the compiler has extremely retargetable instruction
generation. The simulator can pass metering information to the
compiler to help in optimization. It looks like it is oriented toward
application-specific ICs, rather than CPUs, however. It promises to
be a major improvement in the design of ASICs. More details on page
47 of the January 21, 1988 Electronics.